Vipassana Meditation the Mahasi Method Explained

This
is a discussion given during Sunday Jade
Buddha Temple, English
Dharma Group, so you are welcome to ask
questions any time or leave a comment I this case. Also, in an hour
we can cover one aspect of Insight Meditation so by no means an
exhaustive discussion. Most of it are based my personal study and
experiences of the past 20 years. I have been very lucky to find
like minded practitioners supporting my journey. Without, this
community, I might have stopped years ago. The other is that, is
partly due to my self determination and effort, I have managed to
participat in many retreats from 1-day up to 20 days. During these
period, I have gone to at least one long retreats every year.

In
this talk you will hear statement, like 'Insight Meditation
requires mindfulness, alertness and ardency'. The
statement is simple and direct but loaded with meaning. Or may be
you have your own experience after reading a book on meditation and
still have difficulties meditating. In here we are trying another
approach to go through the steps of insight meditation and hopefully
that can help to add a few more tools for your tool box.

So,
what kind of meditation should I be practicing with. I hope by the
end of this you will get a some idea about Vipassana Meditation.
Whichever technique that you choose to embark on, give yourself time,
commit to it for at least six months. Find a good teachers, good
community, good resources and best of luck. Most of it enjoy the
journey with many fruitful results.

There
will be a few Pali (Sanskrit) terms. I did it for 2 reasons is to
let you get used to them, if you didn't get it in this talk, no
worries. The more you hear and discuss them then it will get
better. Second, many times there are just no direct and even a
appropriate word to represent meaning in the sutta, therefore it is
good to know some them.

This
is how the discussion will go. They are arranged in progressive
stages. The first 2 sections are definition of terms and basic
knowledge. If you know them you can skip these sections. The last
two section is a practical look at different modern day insight
meditations and step by step description of Mahasi practice. There
are references throughout the article and at the end, you may find
them helpful since they have been sources of inspirations and in a
way “teachers” on my path.

Outline

Definitions/Terms
(tool kits and how they work)

Buddhist
Meditation Overview (understanding & misunderstanding)

Step
by step Mahasi Vipassana Meditation Techniques

Helpful
Tips to improve your Practice

Definitions

Meditationappeared
in the sutta are often
associated
with words like Bhavana,
Jhāna,
Dhyāna/禪那,
Ch'an/Zen禪…Bhavana
means cultivation or development. Jhāna
(Pali) or Dhyāna (Sanskrit) means the cultivation of stages of
absorption
concentration of the mind.
Dhyāna
was translated by the Chinese as 禪那
by
the pronunciation of the Sanskrit
word.
And later it was abbreviated to
禪
or
Ch'an.
When it reached Japan and Korea, it became Zen.

Vipassana/Insight
Meditation- has 2 components Mindfulness (sati) & Momentary
Concentration (Samatha). Insight Meditation uses 'meditation
objects' in
developing the mind in order to gain direct knowledge of reality.
The yogi are trained to perfect key mental components in order to cut
through our delusions into our true nature.

Mindfulness
(Sati)-
is
when
you first become aware of something before you objectify it. (mipe)
Characteristic of
mindfulness is mirror
like; non-judgmental; impartial watchfulness; bare attention;
present time awareness; non-egoistic alertness; goal-less awareness;
awareness of change; pre-symbolic function remembrance; meant to
keep in mind (tb)

Alertness-
“means
being clearly aware of what's happening in the present”
(tb)

Ardent-
Ardency means being intent on what you're doing, trying your best to
do it skillfully (tb)

intensely
devoted, eager, or enthusiastic; zealous (dictionary)

“refers
to the effort you put into the practice, trying to abandon
unskillful states of mind and develop skillful ones in their stead,
all the while trying to discern the difference between the two.”
(tb)

Jhāna/Samadhi/Samatha
(concentration,
serenity)
this is sometimes described as a different kind of meditation. This
meditation when developed allows the yogis to reach stages of
meditation called Jhanna (8
stages).
The
yogis uses a a single object to develop single mindedness. Some of
these practices are: Metta (Loving Kindness); 32 body parts; 4
elements; charnel ground; and so on.

Meditation
is
not to ask you to “contemplate
your navel or to chant secret syllables. You are not conquering
demons or harnessing invisible energies.”
Following
are misconceptions on meditation mentioned in BhanteG'a book-
Mindfulness
in Plain English (mipe):
“just
a relaxation; means going into a trance; a mysterious practice which
cannot be understood; become a psychic superman; dangerous to
be avoided by a
prudent person; for saints and holy men; running away from reality; a
great way to get high; selfish; sit around thinking lofty thoughts;
couple of weeks of meditation and all my problems will go away.”

Other
popular forms of Meditation

Two
other popular forms of Buddhist meditation quoting from BhanteG's
book, “Mindfulness in Plain English”. (mipe)

Zen:
“student
is given a unsolvable riddle (koan) … and by placing him in a
horrendous training situation. Since he cannot flee from the pain
of the situation, he must flee into a pure experience of the
moment. There is nowhere else to go. Zen is tough. It is effective
for many people, but it is really tough.”

Tantric:
“mental
images which are artificially pasted to the flowing process of pure
awareness. Tantra seeks to obtain pure awareness by destroying this
ego image. This is accomplished by a process of visualization …
not exactly a game of patty cake”

Vipassana
Meditation

Does
that mean Vipassana is any easier? Judge for yourself. When the
Buddha taught about Vipassanna Meditation, it is based on 2 aspects-
Sati (mindfulness) and Samatha (concentration). This is not two
different meditation, they actually go hand in hand and are both
essential.

Samadhi/Samatha:
Concentration, Tranquility, One Pointedness

Mindfulness,
In the Moment

Sam
Harris an
American author, a philosopher and neuroscientist and a critique of
organized religion.
Harris is one of the "Four
Horsemen of New Atheism,"
alongside Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and the late Christopher
Hitchens. They, especially
the
late Christopher
Hitchens,
are
interesting thinkers of our times.

Sam
Harris
“recommend
a technique called vipassana (Pali, “insight”), which comes from
the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. The advantage of
vipassana is that it can be taught in an entirely secular way.
Experts in this practice generally acquire their training in a
Buddhist context, of course—and most retreat centers in the U.S.
and Europe ... Nevertheless, this method of introspection can be
brought within any secular or scientific context without
embarrassment. The same cannot be said for most other forms of
“spiritual” instruction.

The
quality of mind cultivated in vipassana is generally referred to as
“mindfulness” … its psychological benefits. Mindfulness
is simply a state of open, nonjudgmental, and nondiscursive attention
to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant.

Cultivating
this quality of mind has been shown to modulate pain, mitigate
anxiety and depression, improve cognitive function, and even produce
changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain related to
learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self awareness …

“mindfulness-based
stress reduction” (MBSR), pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, have brought
this practice into hospitals and other clinical settings …

The
Inner Kids Foundation … teaches mindfulness in schools. Even the
Department of Defense has begun experimenting with meditation in this
form … The
practice of mindfulness is extraordinarily simple to describe, but it
is in no sense easy ...
requires special
talent and a lifetime of practice.”
(ttps://www.samharrish.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate)

This
method was started by Mahāsi Sayādaw in Burma, also sometimes known
as the forest tradition. He and his center has trained more then
700,000 students all over the world especially from the West. Some
of his students are Sayādaw U Paṇḍita (Panditārāma), Joseph
Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg. This method is taught by focusing on
the rising and falling of the stomach. The idea is that it is more
prominent as a meditation object comparing to the breath. The
teaching is to ask the yogi to note each an every mental object that
are present in the mind. Always using the the rising and falling of
the stomach as an anchor.

Goenka
Meditation Techniques Explained

Sometimes
described as a boot camp, going through a regiment of 10 days total
silent meditation. Boot camp in the context that everything from the
meditation instructions, Dhamma
talks, staffing to managing the retreat are run according to a
standard operating procedure (sop). The whole “operation” are
highly structured and some commentators used the term rigid.
Everything are well formulated and directed, almost feel like a
“McDonald” franchaise operation. I do mean this is the best
sense of the word, this approach is highly successful and as a proof
there are 167 world centers and 129 non-centers.
(https://www.dhamma.org/en/locations/directory)

The
Vipassana meditation approach that the center teaches is by observing
the bodily sensations that arise from the 6 senses, a yogis see
directly first hand the reality of human experiences. The first 3
days are spend on anapana, and then the fourth day switched to
mindfulness meditation. Each day the students wake up at 4:30a and
finish at 10p. There is an hour of video taped Dhamma talk, a
recording of Goenka, at 9pm. There is no walking meditation
scheduled in this retreat.

They
are well run operations and recommended for anyone who wanted to get
the experience of a long retreat. Examples of the thoroughness of
the center operation like in staffing and food. THere are both male
and female assistant teachers, who are volunteers that has been
trained. They manage the sitting meditation sessions and play the
recorded instructions at the appointed schedule and also help
answeared questions from students. There are male and female student
managers who help monitor the students and the meditation room. They
would even look for students that are absent from their meditation
cushions.

Food
are an important part of the retreat and they are well planned and
documented from portion controls to suggested list of varieties of
dishes. It is run by the kitchen manager, and a group of volunteers.
As a mtter of fact the retreat center are run off of mostly
donations and volunteers.

“The
meditation taught at Pa-Auk Tawya is based on the instructions by The
Buddha as found in the Tipiṭaka (the Pāli
Canon) and its commentaries.

In
brief, the main practice is to begin with Samatha (tranquility)
meditation, which is to develop absorption concentration, also called
jhāna.
A yogi (meditator) is free to choose any of the forty Samatha
subjects as taught by The Buddha. In Pa-Auk Tawya, most yogis develop
jhāna with mindfulness-of-breathing (ānāpānassati). Having
developed Samatha, the yogi may proceed to practise Vipassanā
(insight) meditation.

As
an alternative, the yogi may omit the development of jhāna.
He/she (“he”) will be taught instead to develop the less powerful
access concentration with the Samatha subject of Four-Elements
meditation, prior to the practice of Vipassanā meditation. In either
case, the concentration attained by the yogi produces the 'light of
wisdom'.

Having
completed the development of his/her (“his”) Samatha meditation,
the yogi is then taught to protect his practice with the Four
Protective Meditations of Mettā
(Loving Kindness), Buddhānussati (Recollection of The Buddha),
Asubha (Repulsiveness of the Body), and Maranānussati (Recollection
of Death).

Following
that, the yogi will be taught to prepare the way for Vipassanā
meditation, which is to use the ‘light of wisdom’ to discern
ultimate materiality and mentality. The yogi will also be taught to
discern the workings of Dependent Origination (paṭṭiccasamuppāda).
This means he will discern a number of past and future lives, and to
discern the causes for certain rebirths.

Only
upon having discerned ultimate materiality and mentality and their
causes (Dependent Origination), does the yogi have the necessary
objects for Vipassanā
meditation. The practice of Vipassanā meditation is to discern the
three characteristics of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha),
and non-self (anatta) in ultimate materiality and mentality – of
past, present, and future, internal and external, gross and subtle,
inferior and superior, far and near.

In
accordance with the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), the yogi
will be taught a series of detailed practices by which to develop and
strengthen his Vipassanā
knowledge of materiality and mentality of past, present and future.
In this way, the yogi may progress through the different insight
knowledges, preliminary to the attainment of Nibbāna.

Cooking
for a full course meal is in many ways similar to meditation. You
have the four different kind dishes, appetizer/standing, soup or
salad/walking, main course/sitting and desert/lying down. Each are
important as to compliment the other and each has their own
ingredients and the cooking instructions. You can read as many
recipe book as you like but you know that it is very much different
when you actually step into the kitchen and try to cook. Meditation
is not too much different and yet so much more complicated.

The
central to Mahasi meditation is noting, that is noting the meditation
object. To begin the yogi is ask to use the rising and falling of
the stomach area as the primary meditation object during sitting
meditation.

When
the mind wonder away from the primary object, the yogi is to gently
note the distraction. Let me emphasis on gently. For example if the
distraction happen to be hearing sound from the outside and the mind
started either liking or disliking. The moment the yogi noticed that
the mind is not on the primary object. The first thing to do is
gently note 'sound, sound, sound' and then go back to rising and
falling.

There
are wholesome skills deployed here. First mindfulness has to be
present. Wholesome mental state that stay with what is going on at
the present moment. That is to say, clearly noting the sound before
mental interpretation that of what was said or who is talking. Also
the mind is heedful, in another word non forgetfulness and remember
to stay with your meditation object. Then if the yogi catches the
mind wonders into reacting to the sound for 'moments' later then when
it noted that it was heedlessness. It has to 'accept' and gently
brings the mind back to the meditation object.

This
is how the yogi should start practicing. With diligence and regular
training there are at least two outcomes. The mind can settle and
stay with the primary object and the alertness in catching
distractions improves. This is building a good foundation for
mindfulness. The yogi is encouraged to take this to daily activities
like when waiting in checkout line, you can practicing rising and
falling and noting when the mind wonder to another object.

To
make progress, you are encouraged to practice daily especially going
for retreat. This allow the yogi to reach a sharp level of
mindfulness. Whereas the yogi can then go deeper into the meditation
object. When at this stage, this meditation object can be any
phenomena that arises during once meditation. For example, when the
yogi hear a conversation outside of the meditation hall and begin to
wonder why these people are so in considerate. Why can they talk some
place else. May be I should go out and tell them to stop so we can
have quite space to meditate. The mind can go on and on and on and
on. When the alert mind can catch this train of think, then the the
first thing to do is gently note 'anger, anger, anger'. Then brings
it back to the 'rising and falling', that is what it mean by the
anchoring mental object.

If
when the mind is sharper and can note the distraction sooner like,
the minute the yogi hear the sound and note 'sound, sound, sound' and
then back to rising and falling. Sometimes the distraction remains,
the people are still talking outside and seemed even louder. And if
the yogi's mindfulness is sharp, he can switch his mindfulness on to
noting the prominent objects. In this case may be the angry feelings
that arises out of the distraction. The yogi is to look at the bare
feeling or may be even sensations that arise due to the anger. The
sensations then becomes the object of meditation. Seeing it with
objective observation or sometimes called without the “I”.

The
same principle applies to walking, standing and laying down
meditation. In walking meditation the primary object is to use the
movement walking. To be more specify the either the lifting pushing
and touching (movement) or the sensation of the feet during walking.
In standing meditation the primary object can be the standing or the
sensation from the body, whichever is the most prominent object to
use.

Dealing
with hindrances?

Now
let look at how to deal with one of the hindrances. As you know by
now there are five. The description below in principle can also be
applied to all of them. In here, we will look at sloth and torpor or
more specifically sleepiness.

Before
we get into how, let's understand a few words that we will be using.
Wholesome and unwholesome mental states. Mindfulness, alertness and
ardent of the present moment are wholesome mental states.
Unwholesome mental states are, for example, distractions, anger and
laziness, which retard the progress of insight and keep us in deluded
states. In another words, any phenomena which arises during
meditation that prevent the presence mindfulness. These unwholesome
mental states are related to the concept of I, mine or myself. That
is how we operates everyday since we come to be. And we frequently
hold on to the wishful thinking that thing do not change. We are fall
into the the cycle of likes and dislikes which defile the mind.

So
before we go any further. Ask yourself, is sleepiness wholesome or
unwholesome? And is PAIN a defilement?

To
handle sleepiness, you first need the presence of awareness, then
with the quality of acceptance and with much re-training of the mind
eventually overcoming it. So some of you might noticed, it is easier
said then done. That is true but at least in here you acquire the
skill of developing wholesome mental state that are beneficial.
Comparing to our usual approach of using unwholesome reactions to as
either a distraction or replacement of one. Simple example is that
while sitting in meditation, and pain arises, we either react with
dislike and move our posture or some other might grid the teeth and
bare through the pain. The first reaction is to react with disdain
and cover up the pain. Most of us has try this in our yard to rid of
grass by covering it up. Is this is permanent solution?

The
other approach, treat pain with rejection and might have read or
heard somewhere that if when one can reach the end of this, they will
find great release of bliss. Please consider the story of the Buddha
in what he had done, going through even much harsher extreme of
self-mortification and concluded that this is not the way. Not
accepting pain as part of living with this human body in and of
itself is unwholesome reactions to a natural phenomena. Tightening
the body thus the mind to sit through the process only strengthen the
defilement and counter productive to the Buddha's teaching.

In
the same token, some yogi meditate in order to aiming for a peaceful
and pleasurable state of mind thus strengthening also defilement and
preventing the progress of the Buddhist meditation which is aim to
complete;y eradication of the defilement.

Now
going back to sleepiness. In this case, when you can deploy
awareness to pay attention to what is going on in the present moment,
being alert to the arising of the sleepiness mental state, this is
mindfulness. And reaction like, “what am I doing!” See everyone
in the room is sitting straight and practicing well and there I am
drooping and falling asleep. I better straighten up so none sees me
as a bad meditator. Or may be you exert more energy in propping the
body straight and grit your teeth to stay awake. Some other cases,
you just stand up, put on your jogging shoes and started jogging
around the temple to gain more energy in order to fight the
sleepiness. Or worst case lay down and sleep. All of these are
unwholesome mental states because you did not not accept the mental
state of sleepiness. By reject it and tightening up, reinforces the
ego and create more stress which in and of itself counter productive
to the idea of meditation.

When
one accept sleepiness and use skillful means to use sleepiness and
work with it then you gain the understanding of these natural
phenomena. Some skills you can use, depending on conditions
that you learned from your practices, are: deploy strategy to
gently arouse the mind; penetrate it and use it as your meditation
object. There are progressive approaches to handing sleepiness and
teachers would suggest that we handle what we can and gradually make
progress to overcome sleepiness.

Understanding
the conditions of arising and disappearing of sleepiness strengthen
mindfulness. Strong mindfulness when developed to its maturity will
lead you into deep insight of the true nature of reality.

Following
is a summary of some of the key ideas we just covered:

Mind
in the present, is the mind on the meditation object or not? Keeping
the mind in the present moment, is easy said then done. So you have
to re-train the mind. Be patient.

clear
knowing; heighten awareness: having a clear mind that is not muddle,
not like algae in water. Keep in mind that it is like cleaning an
old copper cup, you get to rub it again and again, then it becomes
clear.

non-heedlessness-
attentive to your meditation object, get better only with a trained
mind

quality
of acceptances- be gentle and accept hindrances as part of the
nature of the mind that you are using to improve your meditation

confronting
the object- that
is no
conceptualization, guarding the senses

TIPS

Meditation
isn’t always easy or even peaceful. But it has truly amazing
benefits, and you can start today, and continue for the rest of your
life. Let's be clear, everyone has these problems (defilements),
even the Buddha and Arahants before they reach nibanna. You have to
keep reminding yourself that the problems you are having is not
unique. This is important to keep in mind ALL THE TIME. Many
people give up just because of not understanding these problems and
think that the meditation does not work or they failed. It will help
you when you are able to take note of the tips that we have discussed
in the section before this and following.

Keep
in mind that each of us will have different levels of these problems
and some are more prominent then the other. Each problems or
hindrances have both a gross (obvious) and subtle form. The stronger
form of hindrance, it will be obvious and the will arise often time
when we are making progress. As you might be able to get the idea
that meditation progress is not a straight line and will always have
rough and difficult spots (guaranteed). NO PAIN NO GAIN.

With
meditation you will have good days and you will have bad days, that
does not matter. What matter is that you do it and with persistent
of the development of better skills with good guidance, you will
realize great immediate and ultimate benefits.

What
are some of the tips that help me with my practice?

Habits:
Whether if you have meditate for awhile or plan to start. It is
best to develop a strong habit. Dedicate and decide a minimum time
that you will meditate and when. Especially at the beginning of
your practice, give yourself at least six months time and
reevaluate. Also even try and stop and bring the mind your the
'rising and falling' or your breath whenever you remember during the
day. If anything else just for a few second, breath and relax. You
can do it anywhere and anytime, slow down just a bit and be aware of
the any body movements or sensation. Note it briefly or as long as
you have the time then go back to your daily activities. Good habit
of mindfulness with pay dividend when you sit or go to a retreat.

Group
practices: Group practice gives you support that it might be lacking
when you are doing it at home by yourself. It give disciple and
most of all you get to learn and exchange ideas with liked minded
practitioners. Retreat is when you get to drop all of your
responsibilities and a chance to learn to understand yourself better
and develop your meditation. So do determine to make plan for them.

Resources
& Teacher(s): There are plenty of books on meditation and many
online websites, audios and videos that can be helpful. They can
helpful and inspirational. As for teacher, an very important
component, especially a good one is that one who has the experiences
and can help you the most.

Get
involved & Volunteer: If you have done volunteer work before,
you appreciate the benefit and the return of this. For me, if I
believe, it is a strong determining factor of why people stop
meditating. So do it and do it today.

TRANSFERENCE
Of MERITS

May
this mental cultivation be a condition for the realization of
nibanna.

We
share this merit with our departed ones, with all beings and all
the devas.

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Forest Meditation Centre in Myanmar. For over 20 years, Ven. Gavesi has been practising both Samatha and Vipassana bhāvanā under various teachers such as Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw Nyanapurnik, and Ven. Sujiva.

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